UPDATED! Keith Ellison & John Kerry Visit Gaza Strip

1Kudos to both, even if Kerry made all the necessary disclaimers for Master-AIPAC. Br. Keith was due a substantive action, after his vote debacle on the Gaza massacre. Hope this helps him, hope this gives at least 3 representatives some idea of the destruction that Israel unleashed.

In a story in the Star Tribune (please try to leave a comment there, supporting Keith as the Israeli foot-soldiers are hard at work):

Rep. Keith Ellison, one of the first high-level U.S. officials to enter the Gaza Strip in more than three years, said he is haunted by the scenes of destruction from Israel's recent military incursion.

“I have an image of a woman sitting in the rubble of her home burned in my head,” the Minnesota Democrat said in a cell phone interview Thursday on his way back to an Israeli check-point.

The second floor of the house he visited had collapsed at an angle. Where a family with five children had once lived, “all that remains is a lean-to,” Ellison said.

Ellison, who met with Gaza civilians and relief workers for about nine hours Thursday, said he was not there to assign blame for the violence, though he said the civilian devastation he witnessed was hard for him to understand.

On Friday, he plans to tour the Israeli towns of Sderot and Ashkelon, which have been targets of numerous rocket attacks by Hamas forces in Gaza.

“I've always believed we need to resolve this thing by diplomacy,” said Ellison. “I'm even more convinced of that now.”

U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., right, talks to a Palestinian man as U.S. Rep. Brian Baird, D-Wash., right, listens at the UN food distribution center in Gaza City, Thursday, Feb. 19, 2009. The Democratic congressmen traveled to the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Thursday, the first congressional delegation to enter the area since the Islamic militant group rose to power.

9 Responses

Having met Rep. Ellison a number of times and hearing him speak on issues pertaining to the persecution of Muslims in various countries, I don’t doubt for a second that he understands the magnitude of the grave suffering of the Palestinians in Gaza (and the West Bank). In this instance, I think he was faced with a very difficult situation given that Gaza is run by Hamas and a vote deemed to be in “favor” of Hamas could be construed very negatively by his political adversaries. That said, Rep. Ellison has higlighted his Muslim faith at every opportunity, which is far more than I expected when I supported his election. He is doing what he can, and a cursory review of the “neo-con” blogs will show you that the enemies of Muslims in this country consider him an existential threat. We can’t expect a 180 degree change in this country overnight. Rep. Ellison is an honorable Muslim and a patriot – we should encourage him to continue advocating for us.

Ellison, Baird and Kerry are clearly and blatantly exposing their anti-Semitism here. Visiting Gaza will only help the terrorists. Hamas intentionally fired rockets into Gaza destroying schools, mosques and homes, killing countless Palestinians so that foreign observers will think that this was Israels doing!!!

I totaly agree with the above comments – sometimes the worst enemy of activism is patience. Muslims in America have to be patient and things will change – slowly but they will. So sometimes you have to work within the system and sometimes you don’t ~ you need both people on the inside and outside ~ sooner or later the world will stop hearing Israeli excuses

bismillah was salamu alaykum. the test for me would be the votes these men cast from here on out. either on the next vote for aid to these victims, or the next time Zionists test the “loyalty” of the US government with the blood of Muslims.

as for the Zionists, may they who planned and executed the attack on Gaza be humiliated in life and death and on their resurrection to face those they murdered, save only those who fall prostrate to Allah alone.

What exactly is there to commend in Ellison’s statement and/or action? If the author is seeking the redemption of Ellison by highlighting his acknolwedgement of human suffering, that’s a pretty low standard. Any person who is half-way reasonable would not hesitate to call it injustice and slaughter (Hence, Erdogon’s statement, “all you know is how to kill”). Moreover, Ellison’s reference to diplomacy evinces his ignorance of the situation. Diplomacy is used to achieve national interests, and the history of the conflict clearly shows that the US’s interest in that area is not altruistic, so when he speaks of diplomacy, does he really understand what interests the US has, and is he prepared to share that with the rest of us. I think discourse on this issue, in order to be beneficial, shouldn’t revolve around seeking redemption for Ellison, rather we should study the situation closely (e.g. the one-state and two-state solutions, the call for digging tunnels to connect the West Bank & Gaza, the issue of Jerusalem as the capital, the Golan Heights, settlements and demographics [the list goes on and on]) to understand what plans the US, Israel and other regional and European actors have to determine how this all will affect the lives of Muslims, and then based on that discourse guage our representatives comments and analysis. Currently, the bar is way too low.